


say cheese

by orphan_account



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, aka the fic where soonyoung eats mozzarella sticks and wonwoo doesnt get paid enough
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 05:46:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14928288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Soonyoung could be snoozing in his dorm room, marathoning yet another unrealistically cheesy drama where the good-looking lead falls for the clumsy girl, where he chuckles and wipes the remnants of food from her mouth and the soundtrack starts up just as time slows down. Unfortunately, all he’s got is cheese hanging out of his mouth and a very hot librarian staring at him with the combined force of all minimum wage student job annoyance.





	say cheese

**Author's Note:**

> this was a piece for ksy day that i wanted to put out so: happy birthday to the world's cheesiest boy, i love u! 
> 
> the idea for this came from a tweet by @jamieloftusHELP: good news: hot librarian noticed me bad news: its because i brought mozzarella sticks into the library and thats not allowed. 
> 
> also thanks to cat and kait for beta'ing this for me so quickly, and to amber for engaging in cheese boy soonyoung shenanigans with me on twt!! i couldnt have pulled this together without u guys :')

“Have any of you started studying for this midterm?” is the first thing Soonyoung hears when he wakes up from his nap, and if he’s being honest, that isn’t the most optimistic statement to be awoken to. 

 

Jihoon’s watching him rouse himself from his nap, mouth turned into a disapproving line as he leans against the wall next to Soonyoung and Jun’s desks. Just to get a reaction out of him, Soonyoung grins and stretches his arms, yawning exaggeratedly. Rubs his eyes a little, stretches his toes. Almost immediately, Jihoon whacks him lightly across the back of his head. He exerts none of the same aggressiveness towards Jun though, who’s still lazing in his seat the same way cats lie around in spots of sun. Jihoon will deny any favouritism towards Jun, but Soonyoung is sure that he knows better. 

 

“Meet me at the library,” Jihoon says flatly, turning to gather his books before he starts to stalk off to the building. Jun and Soonyoung barely have the time to cast tired glances at each other before they are hastily grabbing books and stuffing them in bags, the dog-eared page of a doodle flapping in the wind as they hurry after Jihoon.

  
  


It’s 5 hours later, Soonyoung hasn’t had lunch yet, and he cannot fathom why every single white man in history has been able to mind everyone’s business but his own. When he took this history class, he wasn’t expecting to have to deal with this amount of drama, what with countries constantly bad-mouthing each other and forming ridiculous alliances like this was some ridiculous re-enactment of Gossip Girl instead of the United Nations. If he were to summarize essentially any conflict that was to be handled by the United Nations, he’d say that it would go down a little like this: 1. Conflict happens. 2. The US proceeds to make it  _ all _ about themselves, and the fact that they’ve been fighting with Russia for the longest time and that this is just another part of the bigger picture, an opportunity for the Russians to gain leverage over American interests. 3. Several small countries try very hard to steer the discussion back to the matter at hand, only to be overpowered by the booming voice of Russia that claims they have  _ nothing _ to do with this and if anything, the Americans are infringing on Russian interests. 4. More bickering ensues and the issue fades out of sight. 

 

See? Gossip Girl. United Nations. Same thing. Except, maybe Gossip Girl has a little more variety with the drama she dishes out, instead of the same repetitive nonsense that led to a grand total of maybe 3 things being resolved during the Cold War period. Peacemaking, Soonyoung thinks, is perhaps not the most efficient of mechanisms.

 

Rest assured, Soonyoung is exhausted, and by the looks of it, so is Jun. From his perch atop his elbows, Soonyoung eyes Jun, who faceplanted into his textbook about 20 minutes ago and has not come up for air once. It’s starting to worry Soonyoung a little bit, if he’s being honest. Jihoon, on the other hand, has not taken notice of the two of them slowly languishing in their seats, and is still very diligently answering practice questions and making the occasional note in his textbook. If anyone were to even glance at their table, it’d be painfully obvious if they were to guess who would be able to pass this midterm with flying colours, and who would try their best only to eventually write “sorry :(“ on their paper. 

 

Boredom soon gets the better of him, though, and Soonyoung sticks a cautious hand out across the expanse of the table to gently poke at Jun, all the while praying that Jihoon doesn’t notice him goofing off. Jihoon, despite his soft exterior, is a hardass when it comes to work and will definitely not be amused with anything Soonyoung comes up with, especially since Jihoon had been the one to painstakingly split the workload so they could all come together at the end of the session with a full set of in-depth notes. Unfortunately for Jihoon, Soonyoung has other priorities that include just about everything under the sun before ‘detailed note-taking for history midterm.’ Priorities, for example, like getting Jun to entertain him to make this whole study session just a little more bearable. Which is how he ends up here, pulling stupid faces across the table at Jun like they’re both 4 years old instead of 2 19-year-old college students with a history midterm in approximately a week. 

  
  


Soonyoung’s known Jun for a while now. They’d met at a party just after orientation week, where people belonging to the same faculty were all shoved together in hopes that they’d find common ground outside their major and the ever-constant pressure of a college lifestyle. The first time they’d met, he’d found Jun hoisting Jihoon up so he could chug from a keg, all the while yelling and patting Jihoon’s calves in encouragement. What this means now, of course, is that Jun will always be a friend who encourages them to do the absolute dumbest things for no reason whatsoever, like pull the ugliest faces in lieu of talking to each other like normal people. Right now, for example, Jun’s lolling eyes and pursed mouth read as “I’m tired. What should we do?” 

 

Soonyoung, ever the linguist, replies by scrunching up his features and subtly patting his stomach, which can only mean “I’m hungry. Do you wanna get food?” 

 

Jun brightens up immediately, nodding in excitement. Before he can turn to pull on his jacket, though, Jun’s tilting his head towards Jihoon in a manner that can only mean “What do we tell Jihoon?” Soonyoung frowns at this, eyeing the tense line of Jihoon’s shoulders running all the way down to the flurry of his hands typing away on his laptop. 

 

Soonyoung lets out a soft sigh before he turns to look at Jun again, patting his hands down in a gesture that can be universally read as “I’ll handle it.” Jun shoots him a relieved smile before he stands up again, raising his eyebrows so as to be able to effectively ask Soonyoung what it is he’d like to eat. Soonyoung takes a moment to deeply contemplate his question, especially since food is fuel and will very likely be the only thing to get him out of this study session in one piece. His mind immediately goes to the playlist of Buzzfeed Tasty videos he’d been marathoning last night at 3am instead of eating midnight snacks like a normal person, choosing to seek inspiration from there because this is the kind of lifestyle a college student budget allows him. He remembers his stomach grumbling as they’d piled on heaping amounts of cheese onto essentially everything, even things that absolutely did not need any extra cheese - and he’s got his answer. 

 

Obviously, the best way to communicate that he wants mozzarella sticks to Jun is to mime it to him and hope he gets the idea, because this is a library and Soonyoung has never heard of whispering. In the midst of very desperately trying to act like he’s pulling cheese from his mouth in ever-lengthening strings, his eyes shift slightly to the right, and he sees A Hot Librarian seeing him act like he’s pulling cheese from his mouth in ever-lengthening strings. It’s mortifying, to say the least. Soonyoung goes bright red and turns back in his seat, and his sneaky glance upwards only shows him the librarian laughing quietly, pushing his circular glasses further up his nose. The moment is only broken when Jun finally sighs loudly, tapping pointedly at his phone screen with a finality that can only mean “Just text me your order.” Which of course, he does, because embarrassing himself in front of hot librarians who wear dainty glasses and have rolled-up sleeves is no excuse for Kwon Soonyoung to not get his mozzarella sticks, thank you very much. 

  
  


When Jun returns, he’s clutching a paper bag soaked through the bottom with grease. As he sets it down, it leaves a little residue on the table, and where Jun grimaces, Soonyoung’s mouth is watering and he is so absolutely ready to go to town on these stupidly unhealthy sticks of fried cheese. Jihoon, watching from the side, neglects to tell them that there is a very obvious sign hanging behind them, very clearly dictating that there is no food allowed in the library. He lets Soonyoung very gently pull the paper bag towards him, leaving a snail trail of grease on the table. In almost comical slow-motion, Soonyoung lifts the bag onto his lap by his fingertips, and by now both Jun and Jihoon are watching him attempt this feat of silence. He’s not going to give up, though. He’s been through hell to get those mozzarella sticks - and maybe equating hell to embarrassing himself in front of The Hot Librarian is a little much, but hey - and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t get to enjoy them in their entirety. Even if that means moving at the speed of Flash from Zootopia. 

 

He reaches into the bag, and it emits possibly the loudest, most incriminating sound in the history of mankind. Thankfully, though, the other students around them either have headphones on or are just as guilty as Soonyoung is, given that he’s seen one of the girls across from their table reaching into her bag multiple times to pull out handfuls of almonds and very carefully nibble at them, one by one. Soonyoung, on the other hand, possesses none of the restraint to pull off something like that. With Jihoon’s amused stare and Jun’s comically widened eyes on him, he pulls out the motherload - a mozzarella stick, in all it’s greasy, will-definitely-give-you-a-heart-attack glory. It’s perfect. 

 

He sinks his teeth into the first bite, relishing in the warmth of the cheese that thankfully isn’t the strange artificial yellow colour that constantly seems to stick itself onto nearly every dish at a fast food place. This cheese is soft, in that perfect in-between state where he can still lean back and have it be pulled into perfect strings. He could die happy here, really. 

 

This illusion lasts about maybe 5 seconds before there’s a polite cough from behind him, and a deep voice says “Sir, there’s no food allowed in the library.”

 

Soonyoung spins in his chair, and of course the universe thinks his life is an absolute joke, an irrelevant string in the web of life, because who else is behind him but The Hot Librarian. He has to admit, this is the absolute opposite of how he anticipated today would go. He could be snoozing in his dorm room, marathoning yet another unrealistically cheesy drama where the good-looking lead falls for the clumsy girl, where he chuckles and wipes the remnants of food from her mouth and the soundtrack starts up just as time slows down. Unfortunately, all he’s got is cheese hanging out of his mouth and a very hot librarian staring at him with the combined force of all minimum wage student job annoyance. In the midst of his utter and complete mortification, he hears Jun snorting as he tries to hold back his laughter. Even Jihoon’s frame is shaking a little bit. Traitors, the both of them.

 

“Sorry?” Soonyoung tries to offer The Hot Librarian - Wonwoo, his nametag reads - but really all he ends up doing is revealing a mouthful of chewed-up cheese. Wonwoo grimaces, and Jihoon, the friend that he is, whacks Soonyoung on the arm. He shuts his mouth immediately, but by now it’s too late and Wonwoo’s got this weird look on his face, a mix of open shock and confusion which Soonyoung can’t help but find cute. He may have just revealed himself to be a disgusting human being incapable of self-restraint when it comes to food, but given that he’s also perhaps just condemned himself for a lifetime of embarrassment - he figures he’s allowed to think Wonwoo is cute. Soonyoung thinks of it as a parting gift from god, sending him a hot boy to be the harbinger of his death. 

 

“You can finish them outside,” Wonwoo says quickly, and then he’s turning on his heel and walking away as fast as he can and Soonyoung wants to  _ die _ . No longer caught up in the moment, shame rushes up his neck, hot and dizzying. Somewhere to his left, Jihoon is laughing and patting him on the arm, saying something about accompanying him outside, no doubt to get in on Soonyoung’s mozzarella goodness. Unfortunately, Soonyoung’s eyes are still fixed on Wonwoo’s retreating figure, and Jun lets out a long-suffering sigh. 

  
  


The next day finds Soonyoung at the library again, only this time he’s pacing at the information desk. He’d asked the elderly librarian at the desk for where he could find Wonwoo, only to receive a knowing smile in response from her, as well as a murmured remark about how everyone’s always here for Wonwoo. Wonwoo’s their bestseller, she’d said, continuing to smile. Soonyoung pretends that he has no idea what she means. He smiles politely at her, backs up a couple feet away from the desk, and continues his pacing. 

 

Movement, ironically, is what keeps him grounded. If he can map the shuffling of his feet against the tiles of the library floor to create an endless overlapping archive routes, then he can stand in front of Wonwoo and apologize to him for being a disaster and a half yesterday. If he taps his toes against the floor twice after every pace, then he’ll be able to smoothly get all his words out. If he paces from the desk to the door, he won’t even have to be here anymore. It’s in the little things.

 

Wonwoo shows up before Soonyoung can convince himself to bolt. Soonyoung doesn’t  yet know whether or not this is a good thing.

 

“Hey, are you the guy who - oh my god, no, you’re Cheese Boy!” Wonwoo starts, immediately cutting himself off when he recognizes Soonyoung. It takes Soonyoung about a good 5 seconds to get over the fact that Wonwoo’s eyes are almost sparkly when he’s excited before he realizes Wonwoo just called him ‘Cheese Boy’, of all the nicknames in the world. 

 

“What the  _ fuck _ ,” is Soonyoung’s extremely intellectual response, because now his ears are ringing again and he can’t stop focusing on the fact that Wonwoo’s cheeks are now tinged with red or that he keeps fiddling with his hands when he’s clearly nervous.

 

“Sorry, I’m not very good with nicknames. It was the first thing that came to mind, and, well,” Wonwoo explains, trailing off and shrugging noncommittally. He still won’t look at Soonyoung.

 

“Just because I enjoy the occasional stick of fried cheese doesn’t mean I should be characterized by it,” Soonyoung complains, crossing his arms.

 

“What should I call you then?” Wonwoo asks, and there is absolutely no way that Soonyoung’s even going to let himself hope Wonwoo’s tone was flirty. Even though maybe he wants Wonwoo to flirt with him, it just doesn’t seem like a possibility given that Wonwoo had the unfortunate experience of witnessing Soonyoung in his lowest form - greasy and cheesy.

 

“Soonyoung,” he answers. The way Wonwoo’s eyes soften is almost enough to make him forget why he’d come in the first place. “Oh, and I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I’m not usually like that,” Soonyoung explains apologetically, wringing his hands. 

 

“You don’t usually guzzle mozzarella sticks or you don’t usually talk with your mouth full? That one was kinda gross,” Wonwoo remarks, wrinkling his nose.

 

“I just met you and you’re going to call me out on my bad eating habits? Who raised you?” Soonyoung asks in mock offense, arms akimbo. Wonwoo grins cheekily in response, and Soonyoung suddenly finds that he is completely okay with anything Wonwoo has ever said or will ever say to him, no matter how insulting it may be. 

 

“I’m only telling the truth, buddy, you can’t blame me,” Wonwoo replies, putting his hands up in defense. It only ends up coming across as cute, though, because he’s got sweater paws today and it’s doing absolutely nothing to help the fact that Soonyoung is supposed to act like Wonwoo’s offended him. 

 

“Buddy? That’s what you’re gonna call me?” Soonyoung asks incredulously. He’s beginning to think that he was more than a little off when he thought Wonwoo was hot. It turns out Wonwoo’s the kind of boy to pull at his overly-long sleeves when he’s shy, and say weirdly out-of-date things like ‘buddy.’

 

“Well, what’d you prefer I call you? My chum? Old sport?” Wonwoo fires back, and Soonyoung wants so badly to laugh because never in his entire life has he ever seen anyone have any kind of good reason to call people ‘old sport’, and he’s also pretty sure the term ‘old sport’ died in the 1920s - along with the soul of Jay Gatsby. 

 

“Aw, gosh, well at least take me to dinner first,” Soonyoung mimics, putting on a much too over-the-top Southern accent and batting his eyelashes at Wonwoo exaggeratedly. He relishes at how Wonwoo’s eyes have gone wide again, and maybe it’s pushing it to think that Soonyoung sees some fondness in them. 

 

He couldn’t be more wrong, though, because the next thing that comes out of Wonwoo’s mouth is “You sounded like Goofy, when you said gosh like that.” Completely deadpan, straight to Soonyoung’s heart. Count on him to embarrass himself in front of Wonwoo twice in less than 24 hours. 

 

Just as he’s getting ready to huff and stomp his foot so he can leave the library with whatever shrivelled-up dignity he has left, he hears Wonwoo ask if he really would like to go out for dinner some time, only it comes out so softly Soonyoung swears it’s just wishful thinking on his part.

 

“Were you not just making fun of me 2 seconds ago? Is this your idea of courting me?” Soonyoung demands, and Wonwoo has the nerve to snort at his dramatics.

 

“It is, actually. So, dinner?” Wonwoo asks again, and Soonyoung feels no shame in immediately nodding his head and asking for Wonwoo’s phone so he can put his number in. He is a weak, weak man, there’s no denying it. Plus, he thinks that maybe this is all fate - the very fact that Wonwoo is completely aware that Soonyoung was being gross, and still asked him out - Soonyoung doesn’t want to mess with fate. 

 

It may also have something to do with the brilliant, toothy smile that stretches its way across Wonwoo’s face when Soonyoung eagerly agrees to their date, but that’s a different story. 

  
  



End file.
